Mill Colour Assist Highlights | June 2021

Megan Lee

The Mill LDN

Talk us through a piece of work that is important to you

Last year was a strange one! I thought the pandemic would set me back in terms of career progression, but it turned out to be a great year of grading for me, and due to remote working, I have been lucky to work with clients all over the world. A favourite one of mine would have to be McFly’s ‘You’re Not Special’. We can’t ignore the fact that my 14-year-old self would be fangirling, but also, it’s always a pleasure working with DOP Rhys Warren. He has an eye for capturing beautiful, stunning images; making the whole grading process a real joy. My default style is to go quite colourful and popping, but for this we went for a muted cooler colour palette to really compliment the Lake District scenery and landscapes. I love collaborating with DOPs and Directors who push me in other directions, especially as I am still developing my own grading style and looks.

Are you working on any passion projects at the moment?

I’m currently grading an 80s horror feature called ‘The Creeping’. We’ve had to put it on hold until we are allowed clients back into the office, but it’s coming along nicely. Working with Director Jamie Hooper on his first-ever feature has been a lot of fun. He loves 80s horror, so we’ve gone for a very stylised look to enhance a lot of the dramatic lighting he’s used throughout but keeping it tasteful. I’m excited for when we can get the chance to see it on the big screen!

Logan Highlen

The Mill LA

Talk us through a piece of your work that is important to you

I chose to showcase ‘The Story of Narcissist and Echo’ because it exemplifies my ever-changing approach to colour grading. It’s a beautiful piece that was itself shot as a passion project by some friends of mine. Originally they weren’t going to get any colour work done on it. The DP reached out and thought it a perfect opportunity to work together. The project timeline allowed me to risk a new approach to my layering and experiment. I think it really became something unique amongst my portfolio.

Are you working on any passion projects at the moment?

I’m always working on new projects. I just finished my third collaboration with an up-and-coming director who likes to shoot on film, a music video/short film fusion. That’s been wonderful to work on film so much recently. The director is inspired by the works of Wes Anderson, it’s very apparent in his actor direction and framing. So we pushed the film into a colour palette based on ‘The Royal Tenebaums‘. This type of collaboration keeps me going and I can’t wait for it to come out.

Gemma Parr

The Mill LA

Talk us through a piece of your work that is important to you

‘Clouds’ is the third short film I worked on with Director David Yorke. I felt the subject matter was important as it deals with how we feel, illness and loss, especially in this current climate. It was beautifully shot and David had some great references so I was really happy to be on board. I found ‘Clouds’ a really creative project to work on as the film reflects the mood of the characters so when the cloud was grey we went cooler and moodier and when the character was happy we went warmer. We also added some grain to give more texture.

Are you working on any passion projects at the moment?

I was gifted a Lomography Diana F camera a couple of years ago and shooting on the larger 120mm format is great fun. I love seeing the prints come back and how the light and colours look. There are always happy accidents with film as well and I draw inspiration from those when grading.

Cassie Benedict

The Mill CHI

Talk us through a piece of your work that is important to you

Maker’s Mark was one of the first projects I was a part of from start to finish as an assist. The entire spot came out of our Chicago studio. The amount of collaboration, creativity and problem solving between departments was truly impressive. As creators, I believe our job is to make advertising not feel like advertising and I remember thinking “This does that” I was able to witness firsthand how a Colourist can take drastically different imagery and somehow make it feel cohesive using the grade. This spot is a perfect example of how strongly colour determines emotion and how complex it can be even just for thirty seconds.

Joni Bradenburg

The Mill CHI

I’m very new at The Mill, I started one month ago, and it was a dream of mine to work at The Mill in the colour team. I’m very excited about this opportunity. I love the way you can use colours to tell a story, how you can communicate without using words. In visual media, one of the first things you see is the colour and you get a lot of information about the story by only looking at the images, even if you don’t know the language, the colour can communicate feelings in the deepest of ways. I think that’s why I love colour grading, it gives us the chance to communicate with people even when we don’t speak the same language.

You can get in touch with our Colour team about any upcoming projects here.